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In a June 2008 issue of the journal Autoimmunity Reviews, researchers Sudhir Paul, Ph.D,and Yasuhiro Nishiyama, Ph.D of the University Of Texas Medical School at Houston announced that they have engineered an abzyme that degrade the superantigenic region of the gp120 CD4 binding site. This is the one part of the HIV virus outer coating that does not change, because it is the attachment point to B lymphocytes, the antibody producing cells of the immune system. Once compromised, they produce antibodies to the more changeable parts of the viral coat, and are thus helpless before the virus' ability to change that coat rapidly. Because this protein, gp120, is necessary for the HIV virus to attach, it does not change, and is vulnerable across the entire range of the HIV variant population.

The abzyme does more than bind to the site, rendering the HIV virus inert, it actually destroys the site, then can attach to other viruses. A single abzyme can destroy thousands of HIV viruses. Human clinical trials will be the next step in producing treatment and perhaps even preventative vaccines and microbicides.HIV has resisted attacks from the body's immune system due to the fact that it is a constantly changing and mutating virus. It is also for this reason that a preventative treatment has remained elusive. However UT researchers have isolated a small stretch of amino acids numbered 421-433 ongp 120, and say, as the virus needs one region to remain constant to attach itself to the cells, this may provide a target for therapeutic intervention.

"Unlike the changeable regions of its envelope, HIV needs at least one region that must remain constant to attach to cells," said Sudhir Paul, Ph.D., pathology professor in the UT Medical School, and senior author of a paper on the subject published in the journal Autoimmunity Reviews.

"The result is that the body is fooled into making abundant antibodies to the changeable regions of HIV but not to its cellular attachment site. Immunologists call such regions superantigens. HIV's cleverness is unmatched. No other virus uses this trick to evade the body's defenses."The team has developed antibodies with enzymatic activity, also known as abzymes, which are designed to attack the weak point of the virus in a very precise way. "The abzymes recognize essentially all of the diverse HIV forms found across the world. This solves the problem of HIV changeability. The next step is to confirm our theory in human clinical trials," Paul said.

Abzyme(s)-antibodies whose binding site catalyzes a chemical reaction like the active site of an enzyme; may be genetically engineered by fusing enzyme and antibody genes, or produced by immunizing animals with transition state analogs.

This is a message I post from time to time as a general warning. A few of our regulars in this Research Forum, notably John2038 and bimazek, have a tendency to view each potential new AIDS therapy as a possible cure. Neither of them are on treatment, and neither is an "expert" in HIV research (in the opinion of our own experts at AIDSmeds.com).

They both over-hype every press release or early study they read about, and fail to keep things in proper perspective. While the news above is certainly promising, it is way too soon for this level of optimism. The history of AIDS research is littered with therapies that sound just as good at first, but don't pan out later in the larger clinical trials.

Yes, I agree with you Peter after all HAART is pretty effective, but it leaves some undesirable side effects for some, we can't stop to have hope. That's part of the reason why I decided to post some of the info on here, and my 2 cents. Whatever the end result is I believe in research however elusive and tedious it can get. My slogan is if you don't succeed try again. No matter how long it takes and keeping all of us posted in most recent research can make a difference. I strongly believe in HAART as the best treatment so far, until something else will be proven to work. Yet research is the only way to find out what's going to work possibly better, longer and possibly reduce the viral load to even lower levels. Eradication it's a long shot away in my opinion not impossible but surely a complicated process with all the mutations and viral reservoirs.

When you live with HIV for over 23 years and see all the failures of test phases, you'll get to where you won't believe any of it until it is on the market. You'll learn not to get your hopes up at every article you read.

below they talk about these...endogenous retroviral sequencesbasically this is a fancy word for retrovirus RNA or DNA sequences that got stuck in the human geneonome in the last 150 million years of evolution, the fact is that 9% of human genome is retroviral sequences, from retroviral infections over the last 150 million years of evolution at times pre human obviously, sometimes these sequences break free from the dna and cause a rare disease in humans many of which havent been identified...well the good news is science noticed that

These endogenous retroviral sequences are overproduced in people with lupus, and an immune response to such a sequence that resembles the Achilles heel can explain the production of abzymes in lupusA small minority of HIV positive people also start producing the abzymes after decades of the infection The immune system in some people can cope with HIV after all,"

He stressed that abzymes degrade the virus permanently unlike regular antibodies. A single abzyme molecule inactivates thousands of virus particles. Regular antibodies inactivate only one virus particle, and their anti-viral HIV effect is weaker.Usually, the abzymes are derived from HIV negative people with the autoimmune disease lupus and a small number of HIV positive people who do not require treatment and do not get AIDS."We discovered that disturbed immunological events in lupus patients can generate abzymes to the Achilles heel of HIV. The human genome has accumulated over millions of years of evolution a lot of viral fragments called endogenous retroviral sequences. These endogenous retroviral sequences are overproduced in people with lupus, and an immune response to such a sequence that resembles the Achilles heel can explain the production of abzymes in lupusA small minority of HIV positive people also start producing the abzymes after decades of the infection The immune system in some people can cope with HIV after all," said Stephanie Planque, lead author and UT Medical School at Houston graduate student.Carl Hanson, Ph.D., who heads the Retrovirus Diagnostic Section of the Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory of the California Department of Public Health, has shown that the abzymes neutralize infection of human blood cells by diverse strains of HIV from various parts of the worldHuman blood cells are the only cells that HIV infects. http://living.oneindia.in/health/science-study/2008/hiv-aids-immunotherapy-230708.html

also regarding hope and the new generation of hiv sufferers like me and john, one week after diagnosis in 2006 i was at support group at AHF in La and there was a guy in my group who had GENE THERAPY at UCLA against hiv and he was completely off meds for 2 years and doing fine, so from very very early on, i saw that htere was other possibilities, that were not toxic, this UCLA researcher was one of the TOP cancer researchers and hiv researchers, i have the study participants email but have not contacted him in about a year but he was off meds and traveling thru europe last time he emailed me

forgive me for hoping but HAART now is only way but there is much hope

i begin to feel that a gene therapy exists but because it is too expensive to administer for one million people we all get stuck with toxic meds

do they slowly distroy the heart, kidneys etc, eventually hiv escapes according to my doctor

anyway

one week after diagnosis i talked to someone in person who had stopped meds because of successful gene therapy at UCLA

not sure what follow up is now

that is one reason i am searching for new things

hope came right with the diagnosis in my support group, along with terrifying complaints from guys who started HAART from side effects

now i recommend in my own experience of starting HAART ASAP anyone below 500 CD 4 t cells start HAARTbecause the damage the virus causes physically and mentally is too great

This is a message I post from time to time as a general warning. A few of our regulars in this Research Forum, notably John2038 and bimazek, have a tendency to view each potential new AIDS therapy as a possible cure. Neither of them are on treatment, and neither is an "expert" in HIV research (in the opinion of our own experts at AIDSmeds.com).

They both over-hype every press release or early study they read about, and fail to keep things in proper perspective. While the news above is certainly promising, it is way too soon for this level of optimism. The history of AIDS research is littered with therapies that sound just as good at first, but don't pan out later in the larger clinical trials.

Please take their postings with a grain of salt.

Peter StaleyFounderAIDSmeds.com

Thanks Peter for give us the warning. After almost two years of adjustment for my HIV status, I start to calm down a bit and have more patient to wait for a later result. When KP-1416 case happened, it didn't hurt me that much, although a slightly disappointment does occur. I think we still need to applaud bimazek and John2038 to give us endless hope. Imagine if they do not give those input, how desparate we will be.

To be honest I (cautiously) am quite excited about this research. It will definitely be years until it comes to any fruition in a clinical sense (if it reaches that stage) but it definitely SEEMS more promising than 90% of HIV research going on atm. I intend to keep an eye on this and I'm going to try to go hunt down the original journal articles to read the fine print (I haven't trusted science journalists to tell the story properly ever since they stupidly yelled HRT CAUSES CANCER from the rooftops)

DR Paul Sudhir, professor of pathology at The University of Texas Medical School in Houston, and his colleagues, think they might have found a potential preventative human immunovirus (HIV) vaccine, they disclose to The Sunday Gleaner in an exclusive interview.

Sudhir says this team is making headway in its research and is ready to begin testing its theory.

"If all goes well, we are looking at a minimum of five years, if necessary, just to go through the regulatory hurdles to get the medical trials, which consist of three applications," he says.

The first application is to study the safety of the project.

"After we have injected the drug in the body of about eight-15 patients who are already infected, (if that goes well), then the goal is to reduce the virus and hopefully, remove it all together."

The second application is using microbicide. This is inserting the vaccine through the vagina or rectum to prevent the disease. The final application is to get the immune system to produce the abzyme on it own.

Short-term goal

"We will achieve this by taking a small portion of [a] chemically modified HIV and administer it to uninfected people who are at higher risk of contracting the virus. These include sex workers, those who have unprotected sex, and intravenous drug users. This will be administered much like the vaccine for small pox and others," the doctor explains.

He said the short-term goal is to give HIV-positive individuals the vaccine. This applies to the 10-15 per cent of those who have developed resistance to the available drugs.

"If our tests work, then it will replace the drugs on the market and hopefully, will not be as expensive. But the ultimate is to eradicate the virus altogether."

In 1989, Sudhir and his group discovered abzymes, which are antibodies with enzymatic (chemi-cally reactive) capabilities that can attack the weakness in the HIV. The weak spot is hidden in the envelope protein gp120. This protein allows the HIV to attach itself to host cells in the body that leads to infection and eventually to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).

According to Sudhir, the HIV is constantly mutating, but it also needs one region that remains constant to attach to cells. If this region changes, then the virus can infect cells. He said the beauty about abzymes is that they recognise all the forms of the HIV across the world, and they can break down and inactivate thousands of virus particles.

He said that they found the weakness by means of serendipity; chance favours the prepared mind. He notes that they have been looking for something, like abzymes, to occur, and once it did, they knew what they would do with it.

He tells The Sunday Gleaner that in 1995, he and his group decided to develop abzymes for both therapy and vaccination. He said they are derived from two sources: individuals with the autoimmune disease, lupus, and those who have lived for over two decades with the HIV, but have not developed AIDS.

"Lupus rarely co-existed with HIV, so lupus patients appear to be protected against HIV infection. Thus, we have engineered abzymes from lupus patients using a certain modern engineering biological method so that we have a renewable and constant source all the time for therapy," says Sudhir.

Reverse the course

However, he points out that lupus patients produce a small amount of these abzymes in their blood and as such, they have engineered these abzymes by cloning them from lupus patients. According to Sudhir, what makes the abzymes so lethal is that the HIV infects immune cells called T-cells. The virus also destroys the ability of these cells to defend us against microbial diseases. Usually, we use our T-cells to fight against these diseases.

He explains that if their research works, the vaccine would reverse the course of the disease in people with full-blown AIDS. However, there will be some rehabilitation of the immune system that might be irreversible, because the virus destroys the immune system. "But certainly, the disease will not progress further."

if you ever sang in chorus---------------------------------------------------------------------

The kingdom of this worldIs become the kingdom of our Lord,And of His Christ, and of His Christ;And He shall reign for ever and ever,For ever and ever, forever and ever,

King of kings, and Lord of lords,|: King of kings, and Lord of lords, :|And Lord of lords,And He shall reign,And He shall reign forever and ever,King of kings, forever and ever,And Lord of lords,Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

And He shall reign forever and ever,|: King of kings! and Lord of lords! :|And He shall reign forever and ever,King of kings! and Lord of lords!Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Possible preventative vaccine in five years. The article said in the short term....the goal would be to administer a therapeutic dose to roughly fifteen people to measure its effect on viral load, and possibly getting rid of the virus altogether. Would a therapeutic dosing trial also take five years to happen....or would a therapeutic trial begin or happen sooner than five years. Opinion?

i agree that the jamaca newspaper is not famous but at least the reporter called the Dr. and interviewed him, most of the info you find in even the best newspapers and on this site and on all gay sites is often and just quotes from press releases and few times do they do what a journalist is suppose to do and call the people and dig, everyone wants their cushy jobs of 8 hrs a day, few put in the extra time,

i found this on the Univ Texas website... dozens of papers, although he doesnt look as good in the photo here as in the other newer websites

Don't we all owe it to those who are on TREATMENT failure to protest and push and make phone calls to try to get compassionate use for this or many other experimental therapies, since we are healthy now and have strength dont we owe it to those who are --- highly resistant and with mutated virus

to do everything we can to move as many hopeful new meds into the pipeline as fast as possible?

many dr. feel eventually most of us will be in TREATMENT failure highly resistant mutated virus at some point ten twenty thirty years down the road

what can we do what can those in power do to help get compassionate use??

KVUE News -- Houston TV station -- is that good enough for ya?? they are local.

Houston doctors say they may have found a way to destroy HIV

02:52 PM CDT on Tuesday, July 29, 2008

By LEE MCGUIREKVUE News

HOUSTON -- There is real hope that whatís happening in a Houston lab might lead to a cure for HIV.

AP Researcher holds test tubes with separated HIV infected blood

ďWe have found an innovative way to kill the virus by finding this small region of HIV that is unchangeable,Ē Dr. Sudhir Paul of the UT Medical Center in Houston said.

Dr. Paul and Dr. Miguel Escobar arenít talking about just suppressing HIV Ė theyíre talking about destroying it permanently by arming the immune system with a new weapon lab tests have shown to be effective.

Ford Stuart has been HIV positive for 15 years. Heís on a powerful drug cocktail that keeps the disease in check.

ďIím on four different medications. Three of them are brand new, and itís the first time that Iíve ever been non-detectible,Ē Stuart said. ďIím down to about Ė just for the HIV Ė about nine pills per day, five in the morning and four at night.Ē

But Stuart knows HIV mutates, and eventually it will learn how to outsmart his medications.

ďThe virus is truly complex and has many tricks up its sleeve,Ē Paul said.

But Dr. Paul thinks heís cracked a code.

ďWeíve discovered the weak spot of HIV,Ē he said.

Paul and his team have zeroed in on a section of a key protein in HIVís structure that does not mutate.

ďThe virus needs at least one constant region, and that is the essence of calling it the Achilles heel,Ē Paul said.

That Achilles heel is the doctorsí way in. They take advantage of it with something called an abzyme.

Itís naturally produced by people, like lupus patients. When they applied that abzyme to the HIV virus, it permanently disarmed it.

ďWhat we already have in our hand are the abzymes that we could be infusing into the human subjects with HIV infection, essentially to move the virus,Ē Paul said.

Basically, their idea could be used to control the disease for people who already have it and prevent infection for those at risk.

The theory has held up in lab and animal testing. The next step is human trials.

Meanwhile, every day in Houston, three people are diagnosed with HIV.

The doctors still need funding to launch human trials. In the world of HIV research, thatís often where things fall apart.

ďClinical trials are very expensive,Ē Paul said.

ďThat is the worry of the researcher. This is what nightmares are made of Ė that after 30 years of work, you find it doesnít work,Ē Paul said.

But so far, it is working.

ďThis is the holy grail of HIV research, to develop a preventative vaccine,Ē Paul said.

ďIf we can get the viral loads down to a manageable level, that will preclude the need for these conventional drugs,Ē Escobar said.

Still, even if everything goes well, itís at least five years before the research could help people with HIV.

The doctors know people like Ford Stuart are waiting.

ďThere are so many people struggling with the disease because it affects not only your body, but also your psyche, how you perceive yourself,Ē he said.

If nothing else, the research is promising for the tens of millions waiting for a cure.

The thing that is so attractive about this research is the fact that it targets a conserved region which the virus needs for entry, so if this works out, it can be used against all strains of HIV. I hope they get funding, I can't imagine why they wouldn't if the research is as promising as the doctor is claiming and indeed as it sounds. yay for lupus!!!! lol

many important concepts in these papers -- these are summaries of some of the papers that this doctor has been working on with NIH funding in texas for last 18 years. This is the science background of these discoveries,

the antibodies to gp120 region of hiv already exist in very mild form in uninfected healthy people probably because of a hiv like infection in our ancestors going back 100s of millions of years to the shark or before

everyone can understand the concept of catalyst - so thesebasically this states that antibodies to the gp120 portion of the hiv virus occur in healthy individuals, this occurs because our immune system is inheirited from hundreds of millions of years of evolution and a early pre-hiv type virus that infected our distant ancestors even going back to the shark, over came this virus, so there is very weak echos of this antibody in all humans, one reason hiv can be very difficult to catch orally, in any case these antibodies can be stimulated with CAbs can also be artificially engineered or elicited by immunizations.

Catalytic antibodies (CAbs) occur naturally in healthy individuals where they may form part of the innate immune system, but are preferentially found in those with autoimmune disease. CAbs can also be artificially engineered or elicited by immunizations. Their mechanisms of action include nucleophilic catalysis, induction of conformational strain, coordination with metal ions, and stabilization of transition states. Recent applications of CAbs with clinical significance include inhibition of HIV infectivity, and the destruction of aggregates of beta-amyloid implicated in Alzheimer's disease. Artificial CAbs are likely to find increasing applications in research, clinical medicine, diagnostics and manufacturing

Antibodies (Abs) and enzymes are structural and functional relatives. Abs with promiscuous peptidase activity are ubiquitous in healthy humans, evidently derived from germline variable domain immunoglobulin genes encoding the serine protease-like nucleophilic function. Exogenous and endogenous electrophilic antigens can bind the nucleophilic sites covalently, and recent evidence suggests that immunization with such antigens can induce proteolytic antibodies. Previously, Ab catalytic activities have been linked to pathogenic autoimmune reactions, but recent studies indicate that proteolytic Abs may also serve beneficial functions. An example is the rapid and selective cleavage of the HIV-1 coat protein gp120 by IgMs found in uninfected humans. The selectivity of this reaction appears to derive from recognition of gp120 as a superantigen. A second example is the cleavage of amyloid beta-peptide by IgM and IgG from aged humans, a phenomenon that may represent a specific proteolytic response to a neurotoxic endogenous peptide implicated in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease.

Chemical Immunology and Therapeutics Research Center, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Texas-Houston Medical School, Houston

We report the selective catalytic cleavage of the HIV coat protein gp120, a B cell superantigen, by IgM antibodies (Abs) from uninfected humans and mice that had not been previously exposed to gp120. The rate of IgM-catalyzed gp120 cleavage was greater than of other polypeptide substrates, including the bacterial superantigen protein A. The kinetic parameters of gp120 cleavage varied over a broad range depending on the source of the IgMs, and turnover numbers as great as 2.1/min were observed, suggesting that different Abs possess distinct gp120 recognition properties. IgG Abs failed to cleave gp120 detectably. The Fab fragment of a monoclonal IgM cleaved gp120, suggesting that the catalytic activity belongs to the antibody combining site. The electrophoretic profile of gp120 incubated with a monoclonal human IgM suggested hydrolysis at several sites. One of the cleavage sites was identified as the Lys(432)-Ala(433) peptide bond, located within the region thought to be the Ab-recognizable superantigenic determinant. A covalently reactive peptide analog (CRA) corresponding to gp120 residues 421-431 with a C-terminal amidino phosphonate diester mimetic of the Lys(432)-Ala(433) bond was employed to probe IgM nucleophilic reactivity. The peptidyl CRA inhibited the IgM-catalyzed cleavage of gp120 and formed covalent IgM adducts at levels exceeding a control hapten CRA devoid of the peptide sequence. These observations suggest that IgMs can selectively cleave gp120 by a nucleophilic mechanism and raise the possibility of their role as defense enzymes. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15269209?dopt=Abstract

Antibody hydrolysis of the superantigenic gp120 site and HIV-1 neutralization was studied as a potential anti-HIV mechanism in uninfected humans. gp120 hydrolysis by purified serum and salivary antibodies was determined by electrophoresis and peptide sequencing, the proteolytic mechanism was analyzed using electrophilic peptide analogs, and viral neutralization was studied using peripheral blood mononuclear cells as hosts. Polyclonal and monoclonal IgA but not IgG preparations selectively catalyzed the cleavage of HIV gp120 at rates sufficient to predict biologically relevant protection against the virus. The IgA hydrolytic reaction proceeded by noncovalent recognition of gp120 residues 421-433, a component of the superantigenic site of gp120, coordinated with peptide bond cleavage via a serine protease-like mechanism. The Lys-432-Ala-433 bond was one of the cleavage sites. Infection of peripheral blood mononuclear cells by a primary isolate of HIV was neutralized by the IgA but not IgG fractions. The neutralizing activity was specifically inhibited by an electrophilic inhibitor of the catalytic activity. The existence of catalytic IgAs to gp120 in uninfected humans suggests their role in resistance to HIV.

Rare monoclonal antibodies (Abs) can form irreversible complexes with antigens by enzyme-like covalent nucleophile-electrophile pairing. To determine the feasibility of applying irreversible antigen inactivation by Abs as the basis of vaccination against microbes, we studied the polyclonal nucleophilic Ab response induced by the electrophilic analog of a synthetic peptide corresponding to the principal neutralizing determinant (PND) of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 (HIV) gp120 located in the V3 domain. Abs from mice immunized with the PND analog containing electrophilic phosphonates (E-PND) neutralized a homologous HIV strain (MN) approximately 50-fold more potently than control Abs from mice immunized with PND. The IgG fractions displayed binding to intact HIV particles. HIV complexes formed by anti-E-PND IgG dissociated noticeably more slowly than the complexes formed by anti-PND IgG. The slower dissociation kinetics are predicted to maintain long-lasting blockade of host cell receptor recognition by gp120. Pretreatment of the anti-PND IgG with a haptenic electrophilic phosphonate compound resulted in more rapid dissociation of the HIV-IgG complexes, consistent with the hypothesis that enhanced Ab nucleophilic reactivity induced by electrophilic immunization imparts irreversible character to the complexes. These results suggest that electrophilic immunization induces a sufficiently robust nucleophilic Ab response to enhance the anti-microbial efficacy of candidate polypeptide vaccines.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17728243?ordinalpos=4&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Conventional antibodies react with antigens reversibly. We report the formation of unusually stable complexes of HIV gp120 and nucleophilic antibodies raised by immunization with an electrophilic HIV gp120 analog (E-gp120). The stability of the complexes was evident from their very slow dissociation in a nondenaturing solvent (approximate t(1/2) 18.5 days) and their resistance to dissociation by a denaturant commonly employed to disrupt noncovalent protein-protein binding (sodium dodecyl sulfate). Kinetic studies indicated time-dependent and virtually complete progression of the antibody-gp120 complexes from the initial noncovalent state to a poorly dissociable state. The antibodies to E-gp120 displayed improved covalent reactivity with an electrophilic phosphonate probe compared to control antibodies, suggesting their enhanced nucleophilicity. One of the stably binding antibodies neutralized the infectivity of CCR5-dependent primary HIV strains belonging to clades B and C. These findings suggest the feasibility of raising antibodies capable of long-lasting inactivation of antigens by electrophilic immunization.

Antibodies (Abs) with proteolytic and other catalytic activities have been characterized in the blood and mucosal secretions of humans and experimental animals. The catalytic activity can be traced to nucleophilic sites of innate origin located in Ab germline variable regions. Discoveries of the natural chemical reactivity of Abs were initially met with bewilderment, as the notion had taken hold that catalytic activities can be introduced into Abs by artificial means, but somatically operative selection pressures are designed only to adapt non-covalent Ab binding to antigen ground states. Unsurprisingly, initial efforts to engineer Abs with catalytic activity were oriented towards improving the non-covalent binding at the atoms immediately within the transition state reaction center. Slowly, however, dogmatic approaches to Ab catalysis have given way to the realization that efficient and specific catalytic Abs can be prepared by improving the natural nucleophilic reactivity combined with non-covalent recognition of epitope regions remote from the reaction center

Jeez, some of you really do fall easily with nothing more than a press release and some bad local news reporting. I'd like to share something. This has been discussed on the leading listserve that U.S. AIDS treatment activists use to discuss the latest research.

Here's a quote from Martin Delaney, the founder of Project Inform:

The general assessment Iíve gotten from scientists I trust most is that this a pile of hooey, yet another bit of science by press release coming out of Texas lately. It seems to be in the blood there, or maybe the university system has hired a PR firm and is trying to figure out what to do with it. The notion that there is some small unchanging region of the HIV envelope, usually in the V3 loop, is something thatís reported about once every year, each time claiming to have found the holy grail, or is it the holy loop? Iíve lost count of the number of times Iíve heard about ďthe Achilles heelĒ of HIV, each time itís something different. There are indeed some highly conserved regions of HIV that are targets in vaccine development, but as far as I know, not by this group. Most people Iíve asked have never heard of these people and they certainly about part of the usual crowd of HIV researchers. Itís hard to say whether theyíre talking about a treatment or a vaccine. Either way, they donít seem to be mentioning any of the things normally associated either with drug testing or vaccine development. If itís about vaccines, whatís going on in the animal studies? They sound like they just want to jump into humans. If itís for a drug, what does the FDA have to say? Have their claims been verified by anyone? In one sentence, heís quoted as saying itís the key to a preventive vaccine. In the next sentence, he says ďif we can get the viral loads down to a manageable level, that will preclude the need for these conventional drugs." So what is the goal here, a treatment? A preventive vaccine? A vaccine that would just reduce the viral set point? We already have excellent controls for getting the viral load reduced.

And why is the story bracketed by tales of a patient who is on conventional antiviral therapy and doing very well?

This article tells us nothing, and maybe itís because there really is nothing tell us. If they really have something new or different, thereís a well established way for presenting for review by the scientific community. Press releases like this are not the way.

So go ahead, and yell your Hallelujahs. I'm going to save my praise for the real science coming out of Mexico City next week.

I'm going to save my praise for the real science coming out of Mexico City next week.

CERTAINLY!!!

Many of the leading lights in the battle against AIDS from all over the world are similarly disinclined to attend [Mexico City International AIDS Conference], saying they are not able to join in celebrating the creation of a vast, multibillion dollar AIDS treatment industry, employing hundreds of thousands of individuals worldwide that serve as a vested lobby on behalf of a prolonged medical approach to a virus that ought to be eliminated entirely from the pantheon of threats to Humanity.

[...]

it is troubling that formerly militant activists, United Nations agency leaders, government health officials, the American foreign policy establishment, religious leaders, scientists and physicians fail to see AIDS treatment for what it is: A stop-gap measure to tide humanity over until we can collectively reach what ought to be our real goal - stopping HIV's spread, entirely. On an individual basis living with AIDS is a proper goal; on a population basis it is catastrophic.

The slogan of the first 15 years of the pandemic was, "Until there is a cure!" Today it seems the global health leadership of the world is satisfied with, "Until there is lifelong drug therapy for everybody, and no prevention strategy!" A dangerous sentiment is sweeping over the AIDS establishment, calling for elimination of all funding for HIV vaccine research and prevention programs, shifting those dollars, euros and yen to expanding HIV treatment.

It is inconceivable that children coming of age in 2021 - 40 years after the recognized start of this epidemic - will feel gratitude toward today's leaders for saddling them with a still widely circulating virus. If today's HIV-treatment model is viewed as an interim step - keeping people alive until a cure and vaccine are discovered - its funding and expansion make sense not only morally, but also as a practical matter of economics and foreign policy - but only if a massive commitment to funding searches for both a vaccine and cure for HIV are sustained for years to come. (Even the cancer lobby recognizes the needs for both oncology treatment access and ongoing curative research.)

Jeez, some of you really do fall easily with nothing more than a press release and some bad local news reporting. I'd like to share something. This has been discussed on the leading listserve that U.S. AIDS treatment activists use to discuss the latest research.

Here's a quote from Martin Delaney, the founder of Project Inform:

The general assessment Iíve gotten from scientists I trust most is that this a pile of hooey, yet another bit of science by press release coming out of Texas lately. It seems to be in the blood there, or maybe the university system has hired a PR firm and is trying to figure out what to do with it. The notion that there is some small unchanging region of the HIV envelope, usually in the V3 loop, is something thatís reported about once every year, each time claiming to have found the holy grail, or is it the holy loop? Iíve lost count of the number of times Iíve heard about ďthe Achilles heelĒ of HIV, each time itís something different. There are indeed some highly conserved regions of HIV that are targets in vaccine development, but as far as I know, not by this group. Most people Iíve asked have never heard of these people and they certainly about part of the usual crowd of HIV researchers. Itís hard to say whether theyíre talking about a treatment or a vaccine. Either way, they donít seem to be mentioning any of the things normally associated either with drug testing or vaccine development. If itís about vaccines, whatís going on in the animal studies? They sound like they just want to jump into humans. If itís for a drug, what does the FDA have to say? Have their claims been verified by anyone? In one sentence, heís quoted as saying itís the key to a preventive vaccine. In the next sentence, he says ďif we can get the viral loads down to a manageable level, that will preclude the need for these conventional drugs." So what is the goal here, a treatment? A preventive vaccine? A vaccine that would just reduce the viral set point? We already have excellent controls for getting the viral load reduced.

And why is the story bracketed by tales of a patient who is on conventional antiviral therapy and doing very well?

This article tells us nothing, and maybe itís because there really is nothing tell us. If they really have something new or different, thereís a well established way for presenting for review by the scientific community. Press releases like this are not the way.

So go ahead, and yell your Hallelujahs. I'm going to save my praise for the real science coming out of Mexico City next week.

Peter

Well, that is a sobering piece of news. But it is still only an opinion, and he is hardly giving a scientific argument. And this team has published research in journals..which is how science is reviewed. I suppose he means they haven't published about the latest vaccine application they want to push into human clinical trials. If anyone has a link to the most recent research (not press release the actual journal article) that would be good to read. Definitely too early for hallelujahs lol

...Speaking of "Project Inform" and "real science", Paul Dalton dared to write in his blog [ http://blogs.poz.com/paul/archives/2008/06/my_journey_with.html ]: "Stephen acted in a highly ethical and straightforward manner throughout the process. I hope he doesn’t stray far from HIV, we need folks like him on our side."

Well, "Stephen" is doctor Stephen Becker, MEDICAL DIRECTOR for Koronis Pharmaceuticals (the KP-1461 Sirs!!!), who immediately after the SCANDAL stated that "he estimated it would take 2 months to figure out what went wrong" and a week later sent out an email announcing his RESIGNATION from Koronis!!!

Well, "Stephen" is doctor Stephen Becker, MEDICAL DIRECTOR for Koronis Pharmaceuticals (the KP-1461 Sirs!!!), who immediately after the SCANDAL stated that "he estimated it would take 2 months to figure out what went wrong" and a week later sent out an email announcing his RESIGNATION from Koronis!!!

Highly ethical. Straightforward. We need folks like him.

What is it that burns you so badly about this drug and this company? It's not like KP-1461 is the only hope in HIV treatment. All you seem to do rant about KP-1461 and Koronis like it's THE WORST THING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED IN THE HISTORY OF MANKIND.

I've recently came to the conclusion There will never be a cure for HIV in the next 20 years or maybe never, almost all of the people that don't do drugs, have gay sex and don't live in the Ghetto don't even hear about HIV anymore, I was one of those people, we knew HIV existed but thought that most HIV cases where gays, blacks, and drug users (which is true in america) but worldwide most of the HIV is in Africa, so why would a straight white person from the suburbs care about HIV, where I'm from it was never talked about because it didn't affect us, if you stayed away from Gays, Blacks, Drug users and didn't run around having sex with just anyone, then everything was all good, and I can tell you first hand this is what most straight suburban people think, so why would they care, most of the people that have HIV are minorities, Gay's are a minority, Blacks are a minority, Drug users are a minority. These White people want to see a cure for cancer and other diseases that affect them, they look at people with HIV as sinner's and pieces of shit that deserve it, and all these stupid scientist's find some stupid new thing and think they have the fucking cure. I'm almost 30 years old and I got HIV from breaking up a fight (trying to be the good guy) 2 years ago, and this person's blood got all over me, I took PEP and obviously it didn't work, I have had sex with two people in my life and both where girlfriend's of a long time, do you know what it feels like to get HIV from getting someone's blood on you, when you've always been safe and protected yourself your whole life, I loved playing sports and had the upmost pride in being happy and healthy, and now I feel like a low down dirty piece of shit and I feel like killing myself everyday, but I believe in God and I won't do it because of that, I wan't a wife and children, and now my life is fucked, and I've came to the conclusion that if you get HIV your fucked, this is a virus that is stuck inside of you and there's no coming back from that, if your gay you still have alot of options there are gay people without hiv that will have an intimate relationship with you, I don't think it's that hard to find a gay guy that is POZ, do you know how hard it is to find a srtaight girl that is POZ, I am a very nice looking fella and I've never had a shortage of girls that liked me, but now I can't like them back, I can't go out and meet a girl and develop a relationship with her because I'm a diseased piece of shit and it's a disease that is catchable and if she gets it she could die from it. So I guess what I'm saying is my life is pretty much over because of the fact that I will never be normal again I will always have this big cloud over my head I will never be genuinly happy again and I'm losing more hope everyday. By the way for your information I personally don't have a problem with Homosexual people, Black people, or drug user's I always prayed for everyone in the world to be happy and healthy and I always felt very sad for people that have HIV no matter how they got it. I guess I'm just very frustrated and sad, I don't know what to do anymore I'm almost completely disconnected from people I was very social and now I'm very isolated but I hope and pray everyday that this will come to an end I just want to feel normal again.

..as long as you believe you are a diseased piece of shit you will have the life of a diseased piece of shit. I know masses of married HIV+ folk, some even got married after 1 was HIV+ and have children (note to self: check the godfather/birthday list).

I am not a diseased piece of shit. It took me a while to realise but I am not. I have a controllable virus. It's no different to telling a date you have epilepsy, like Tuba music or vote for X political party.

This said, cure etc, much of what you say is true.

If 100,000 HIV+ folk went at on the lawn in Washington DC for a month things might change. And more people would get over the diseased piece of shit feeling and see we's just humans like every other folk.

Newt I would never say that you or anyone else is a diseased piece of shit, that is some thing that I'm struggling with, this has made me feel so bad about myself that I am having a very hard time coping with this, and I don't want to say that a miracle can't happen because I know it can, it just sucks that I have a disease that it's gonna take a miracle to cure, I just can't accept the fact that it probably wont be anytime soon, and I don't want to take from peoples hope, but I just don't believe there's anywhere near the energy that we need being put into this to find a cure. We all need to push this issue instead of waiting ang praying for a cure we need to speak up and do something, not just activists, EVERYONE. I don't know where to start or what to do but HIV is something that people want to pretend doesn't exist, but it does and we need to make people know it exists, and we need to get the help we deserve.

I have had HIV for three years now and have never thought I was a piece of "shit" and neither should you. Before I contracted HIV I was always aware that someday I would die. I have friends that have died in there early 30's and not from HIV. I think you must live each day to the fullest because with todays meds HIV probably wont be the thing to kill you. So live your life with HIV and take care of yourself. I am also sure the treatment for HIV will continue to improve, but I don't think we are going to see it tomorrow, we must be patient, and there wil be alot of failures before a cure is found. SO hang in there with the rest of us you will be OK.

Also when I found out I was HIV positive, I was married and still am married. We are also having a child. So there is hope. Don't give up. If someone loves you they will love you regardless of you HIV status. And you are not a piece of "shit".

Logged

Atheist don't believe in GOD, but GOD believes in them and loves them. Never let the failure of man conflict with your love of GOD.